


silenced

by chrysanthemumbell



Series: voiceless [2]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Aftermath of Torture, Angst with a Happy Ending, Getting Together, Hanahaki Disease, Implied/Referenced Torture, Keith/Lance (Voltron) Angst, Lance (Voltron) Angst, M/M, the team is precious
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-16
Updated: 2018-02-16
Packaged: 2019-03-19 08:11:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,264
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13700442
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chrysanthemumbell/pseuds/chrysanthemumbell
Summary: "Lance dreamed of Keith during the night. Of how he was so talented and secretly soft and caring. Of how he was passionate and willing to sacrifice anything for justice. Of how he was so pretty. Then he would wake up, his heart heavy, his cheeks wet, and his chest would hurt. Then he would cough over the toilet, where purple-red heart-shaped petals would flutter from his throat, blood sinking into the water. As time went on, full blossoms and leaves would fall from his mouth in red clumps. Lance didn’t know what to do."Sequel to Voiceless, where red flowers clog Lance's lungs and prevent him from speaking.





	silenced

**Author's Note:**

> warning: langst!!  
> (sorry again if lotor is ooc, i wrote this a while ago)

“Shut up, you stupid boy. I ought to get rid of your whiny voice.” Lotor snapped before grinning with realization. “Perhaps I should.”

 

Lance’s eyes widened. _No, he can’t do that, it’s all I have, it’s all I have from Earth, it’s all I am, I’m useless if I’m voiceless, please, no, anything but that-_

 

But Lance couldn’t say anything. He couldn’t talk, god, he couldn’t _breathe_ , he was choking. He couldn’t do this to Lance, he couldn’t take his voice away. Lance desperately grasped at his throat with his sweaty, chained, hands.  _No, no, no, no…_

 

“Foolish human, I haven’t even done anything. You really are pathetic,” Lotor spat, looking down at Lance’s trembling, crumpled form as if Lance was nothing more than a pesky piece of gum on the bottom of his shoe.

 

“N-no-” Lance’s breathing was labored and forced. “-don’t, please-” Lance’s voice cracked, and it sounded so broken and weak.

 

“Reduced to begging at my feet?” Lotor cackled, voice shrill and unforgiving. “How fun this will be. Tell me, little paladin, all of your secrets.”

 

Lotor was approaching, looming over Lance, and he couldn’t do anything. He was helpless to whatever sick thing Lotor had in plan for him.

 

* * *

 

Over and over again, Lance relived his memories with Keith. He couldn’t tell what was reality and what was in his mind anymore.

 

He hated how the druids could poke around his mind. He hated how they found that he had a small crush on his teammate. He hated that they were the ones that made him realize how much he loved Keith. How long would this endless cycle repeat? The only thing he could focus on was Keith’s laugh, Keith’s smile, Keith’s pout, Keith’s satisfied smirk.

 

Then they injected him with something. He faintly remembered someone mentioning something that sounded like “honey hockey disease.” Then there was pain, too much pain, and Lance fainted. The last thing he saw was Keith’s beaming face.

 

When Lance woke up, he was stranded alone on an abandoned planet.

 

* * *

 

No one could believe it.

 

Lance was voiceless.

 

They found out after Lance woke up. Lance had fainted immediately after getting out of the pod, which Coran said was uncommon. Shiro suggested it could be shock, and they all agreed to be there for him. No one knew what Lotor did to Lance, but they were ready to support him no matter what.

 

When Lance woke up, the team enclosed Lance in a tight group hug before stepping back to give him some space.

 

“Lance,” Shiro said gently. “we’re here to help you, and we all hope you know how important you are to us. Please, tell us what we can do.”

 

“Yeah,” agreed Keith softly. Lance’s face had been one of confusion before he had turned and seen Keith. His eyes widened, and he suddenly looked horrified.

 

“Lance?” Keith asked carefully.

 

Lance shook his head.

 

“What is it, bud?” Hunk asked quietly. Lance pointed to his throat.

 

“What?” Pidge asked nervously.

 

Lance started crying again now. He could only shake his head. Hunk was by his side, rubbing soothing circles into his back. No one knew what happened.

 

Until Coran spoke. “My boy… can you speak?”

 

And Lance mouthed no.

 

Allura gasped in horror while Coran looked down sadly at her side. Hunk began to sob with Lance, while Pidge stared in shock, tears forming in their eyes. Shiro couldn’t believe that he let this happen to his teammate, his _friend._ And Keith…

 

Keith stood there, feeling like the most useless person in the universe.

 

* * *

 

Lance didn’t know what was happening.

 

The castle was filled with sadness and silence, and now Hunk and Lance were inseparable. Lance had to write on a tablet to communicate with everyone, and despite the fact that everyone was extremely attentive to whatever Lance had to say, it wasn’t the same. Lance didn’t like to write. He liked to sing. He liked to talk.

 

However, slowly, things began to approach what used to be normal. Hunk cooked with Lance. Coran quietly looked at pictures of Lance’s family and earth with Lance. Pidge, and Allura did their best to make Lance feel better, whether it be doing makeup or hair or painting nails. Coran had slipped to them that Pidge and Allura reminded Lance of his siblings.

 

But Keith didn’t know what to do.

 

Lance dreamed of Keith during the night. Of how he was so talented and secretly soft and caring. Of how he was passionate and willing to sacrifice anything for justice. Of how he was so pretty.

 

Then he would wake up, his heart heavy, his cheeks wet, and his chest would hurt. Then he would cough over the toilet, where purple-red heart-shaped petals would flutter from his throat, blood sinking into the water.

 

As time went on, full blossoms and leaves would fall from his mouth in red clumps. Lance didn’t know what to do.

 

And then Keith discovered Lance in the middle of the night, pacing the empty halls. They walked side by side silently, and as the night went on, they found themselves walking hand in hand. Keith told Lance about what his life was like back on earth. Honestly, Keith didn’t think it was that interesting, but Lance seemed to enjoy hearing Keith’s stories.

 

Lance confessed that he was considering getting rid of his guitar, but he couldn’t because everyone had put so much thought into getting it for him. Lance’s hand quivered as he wrote this, and Keith hugged Lance, who easily complied.

 

When Lance returned to his room, his heart swelled with love and his lungs swelled with thorns.

 

* * *

 

The pain was unbearable, so Lance finally decided to ask Coran about it. Coran sadly told Lance that it was Hanahaki Disease, which meant that the flowers growing in his lungs were due to his unrequited love, and would eventually kill him if he didn’t get them removed. However, if he got the flowers removed, Lance would lose all his feelings and memories with Keith. Apparently, Lotor had planted a torturous form of the disease in Lance which took away the victim’s voice so that they could not confess to their one-sided love. It was sickening.

 

Lance pleaded for Coran not to tell anyone about his sickness, scribbling frantically on the tablet. Coran patted his shoulder, eyes wet, and told him that he was ready to surgically remove the flowers if Lance wanted to.

 

Lance dreamed of walking with Keith alone at night, holding hands and laughing. He dreamed that his voice was back and that everything was okay- then his mama was there, singing with him, hugging Lance close in her arms. Then Keith was there too, and Lance was the happiest he’d been in months.

 

When Lance woke up gasping for breath, he decided that he wouldn’t remove the flowers.

 

* * *

 

The others told Lance that it was alright if he stayed behind, but he wanted to be useful to the team. Even if he was voiceless, the least he could do was fight. Like always, he was just a burden and ended up coughing the entire time. But no one noticed when he was doubling over coughing because he was silent.

 

However, Keith noticed when Lance was injured by a galra soldier, and hurried to help him up, Lance began to cough even more.

 

“L-Lance?” he heard Keith say frantically, though he could only hear his voice faintly. Lance’s lungs felt like they were set on fire. His heart was beating loudly in his ears, the steady beat drowning out everything except for Keith’s voice.

 

“Are you ok? That’s a stupid question you’re obviously not ok-” Keith cursed loudly, eyebrows knitted like always when he was worried or frustrated. Lance wanted to laugh.

 

Lance was nauseous. He felt like he just stood up quickly after lying for a long time- his head was spinning, colors flitted across his vision, and he felt like he was going to throw up-

 

And then the flowers came.

 

They spilled out like a waterfall, a rush of purple and red pouring out from his mouth. He couldn’t do anything but vomit the petals and leaves, their endless flow sucking him dry until he was lightheaded and woozy. There was blood too- so much blood, so much red.

 

He heard Keith screaming in horror, he felt Keith’s gloved hands holding him up so he wouldn’t fall over, and he heard Keith’s unusually high voice calling for the others, for anyone to come help Lance. The flowers stopped, but the pain didn’t. Lance didn’t think it fitted Keith’s pretty face; rather than looking heartbroken and sad, Keith should be smiling. How could he make him smile?

 

Lance’s arm felt like it was filled with several bricks, but he mustered the strength to nudge Keith. Keith was crying. Lance realized he was crying too.

 

Lance mouthed three words and smiled weakly.

 

Keith sobbed, face stained with Lance’s blood and his own tears. “I love you too.”

 

Lance could only gasp before everything, once again, went black. And just like last time, the last thing Lance saw was Keith’s face.

 

* * *

 

“-Hanahaki disease, that’s why the flowers-”

 

“-unrequited love? but-”

 

“-why didn’t he tell us-”

 

“-will he be okay-”

 

“-this is my fault-”

 

“-no, I should have done something-”

 

Voices floated around Lance, surrounded him with a steady buzz of sound, and he wanted to go back to sleep. But he opened his eyes anyway, the blinding blue light of the castle dazing his sleepy eyes. A bunch of figures were crowded in a huddle, across the room from Lance. Lance stumbled out of the healing pod gracefully, before silently making his way to the group.

 

“Hey guys, you aren’t looking at clocks _this_ time, are you?”

 

Six pairs of shocked eyes stared at Lance. Then six space family members tackled Lance in a tight group hug

.

“How could you, I was so worried, I’m so sorry you had to go through that, you should have said something, oh wait you couldn’t speak but _still_ -” Pidge blubbered, their face pressed into Lance’s chest (though he probably smelled really bad).

 

“ _Dude_ never do that again!! You’ll break my heart again, I can’t have that! Oh man, I’m so glad to have you back, my bestest buddy in the whole wide world-” Hunk rambled loudly while wrapping Lance in the tightest yet softest hug ever.

 

“We can’t lose our team sharpshooter and amazing blue paladin, you know,” Shiro gently chided, smile wide with relief.

 

“Oh, Lance…” sighed Allura, tears in her eyes. “You’re so _dumb,”_ she said, voice cracking.

 

“Actually, he’s quite a smart boy,” Coran added, beaming as well.

 

Then everyone expectantly looked at Keith, who seemed to shrink with embarrassment.

 

“Uh…”

 

“We’ll leave you two _lovebirds_ to talk it out, bye,” Pidge smirked, hauling a reluctant Hunk (”no Lance!”) out. Shiro and Coran followed, wearing knowing smiles. “I’ll leave you to it,” Allura giggled with a wave before the door shut.

 

When they were alone in the room, both boys tensed.

 

“So, uh… I have my voice back, huh,” Lance started awkwardly, attempting to break the silence. He mentally groaned. _Out of all the things you could have said…_

 

Keith looked away, silently blushing, until he finally mumbled. “… I missed it.”

 

“What?”

 

“I missed your voice.”

 

“Me too,” Lance agreed, rubbing his neck. His voice was croaky from being unused for so long, and also from being silenced by an alien disease.

 

“I was so worried,” Keith confessed. “I thought you were going to-” -Keith’s lip quivered- “-die. And it would all be because I didn’t tell you that… I l-like you… soon enough.”

 

“No, it was stupid for me not to let anyone know. I was probably just scared of what would happen if you found out… and if everyone knew, they would probably make me get the flowers removed. And I didn’t want to do that,” Lance admitted sheepishly. Keith frowned.

 

“No, Lance, it’s definitely not your fault. It’s Lotor’s.”

 

At the mention of Lotor, Lance automatically tensed. Keith noticed.

 

“I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to-”

 

“No, it’s fine,” Lance said, but was taken by surprise when Keith embraced him.

 

“I don’t mean to hurt you so much,” Keith said, words muffled as he pressed his face into Lance’s shoulder. “I’m sorry.”

 

Lance hugged him back. “I’m sorry too.”

 

* * *

 

The door swung open on rusty hinges, creating a loud screech. Dust clouded around the feet of the intruder.

 

“Who is it?”

 

“It’s me, Mama.”

 

Lance’s mother only had to glance at the man standing at the door (tall and skinny, but strong as well; his handsome face was marred with scars, and tears poured down his face) to drop everything and run towards him, hugging him tightly like she was going to lose him again. She rocked him back and forth, wailing and crying. She held him there for what felt like eternity.

 

When she finally released him from her clutch, Lance’s mama was still crying. She was smiling from ear to ear.

 

“Do you remember the promise you made?”

 

“Yes, Mama. I could never forget.”

 

And they sang the foolish little song that Lance had written when he was a child, and they cried some more, but they were happy tears. 

 

“Your voice is just as beautiful as I remember,” Lance’s mother said.

 

Then another man, who seemed unsure of what to do, stood awkwardly outside of the door until Lance gestured for him to come in.

 

“Mama, I’d like you to meet my husband.”

**Author's Note:**

> yay a happy ending!
> 
> you can find the original link on my dead tumblr:  
> https://who-doesnt-like-pandas.tumblr.com/post/160167377379/voiceless-2?is_related_post=1
> 
> thanks for reading! kudos and comments are also greatly appreciated.


End file.
